combien

\kɔ̃.bjɛ̃\

/\kɔ̃.bjɛ̃\/ adv

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“combien” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #866. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#866
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
15
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - En quelle quantité, en quel nombre. Note d’usage : Utilisé avec de, en.

Corpus desk

Index FR-combien · combien · French

combien · rank #866 · 10 variants · 15 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #866
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 15 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH continue

Nearest frequency peer: continue (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « combien »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « combien » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

combien vs comble
71% similar
combien vs corbin
71% similar
combien vs combler
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for combien
PropertyValue
Headwordcombien
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\kɔ̃.bjɛ̃\
Letters7
Frequency rank#866
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs15
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « combien »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.combiense place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « continue » (#867), « articles » (#864), « contraire » (#868). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « combien » est au #866. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around combien (IPA \kɔ̃.bjɛ̃\), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #866 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for combien, with forms such as "ccombien", "cmobien", and "cobmien". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 15 confusable-pair relationships, "comble", "corbin", "combler", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is combien, spelled C-O-M-B-I-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    En quelle quantité, en quel nombre. Note d’usage : Utilisé avec de, en.
  2. 2
    Quelle quantité, quel nombre.
  3. 3
    Quel prix.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how combien appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Combien y a-t-il de personnes ?
  2. Combien de fois est-il venu ?

This word in other languages

how many(English)cuánto(Español)wie viel(Deutsch)quanto(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccombien
  • cmobien
  • cobmien
  • combbien
  • combein
  • combienn
  • combine
  • comiben
  • commbien
  • ocmbien

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of combien - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ccombien1cmobien2cobmien2combbien1combein2combienn1combine2comiben2
Edit distance from "combien"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "combien"?
"combien" is spelled C-O-M-B-I-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ̃.bjɛ̃\.
What does "combien" mean?
As an adverb, "combien" means: En quelle quantité, en quel nombre. Note d’usage : Utilisé avec de, en.
What words are commonly confused with "combien"?
"combien" is commonly confused with "comble", "corbin", "combler". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "combien"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "combien" is \kɔ̃.bjɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "combien" come from?
"combien" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "combien", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

courant#869énergie#861heureux#877mission#848

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

sérieux10 variantsVersion10 variantsobtenir10 variantsmatière10 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list